Hauser Colloquium: The Beautiful Game: Football (soccer), FIFA and the governance of Transnational Sport

Professor J.H.H. Weiler

Spring 2018
Tuesday, 12:00-1:50 p.m.
Furman Hall, Room 316

LAW-LW.10127.001
2 Credits

Football (Soccer) is by far the most popular sport world wide. It is also a multi billion business of considerable political import. In recent years it has been shaken by scandal of both financial and political nature as a quick Google search will evidence. The governance of this Sport at the transnational level is interestingly one of the few cases of such import which is not the classical intergovernmental model -- raising delicate issues of legality, legitimacy, democracy and transparency.

This colloquium will explore the foundations and complexities of the transnational governance of sport, through the study of FIFA and the global football system. Central issues will include, for example: the structure and challenges of international "football federalism"; the distinctive nature of sport and its implications for legal rules designed to regulate economic activity; the demands and limits of democracy in the governance of sport; the conceptual, legal, and practical difficulties of operating "transfer systems" for individual players; the significance of political neutrality and the intergovernmental geopolitics of sport governance; adjudication and the unique role of the Court of Arbitration for Sport; and the similarities and differences between FIFA and other global sport authorities like the International Olympic Committee, the International Tennis Federation, and the International Cricket Council.

The Colloquium will involve both classroom work by participants as well as encounters with football leaders including players, trainers (hopefully) owners and other stakeholders.